Hebrews Lesson 110 December 6, 2007
NKJ Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my path.
As we’ve gone through the last
chapter of Hebrews in Hebrews chapter 7, we have been focusing on the high
priestly ministry of Christ. This follows after the pattern of the royal
priesthood of Melchizedek, not that of the physically based priesthood of Aaron
and the Levitical priesthood.
As we come to chapter 8, we come to
these first 6 verses that seem to be a transition from this argument on the
superiority of Christ’s priesthood to this discussion of the New Covenant that
begins in verse 7. That’s what you get if you just sort of hit it the first two
or three times you read through this. But there is more going on in the text. You
don’t really pick it up in the English because you have to (to some degree) be
aware of Greek vocabulary that’s used in the previous chapter. Even all the way
back to chapter 1 there are a lot of ideas as I will show you as we go through
this that are picked up in these first 6 verses of chapter 8 that take us back
to the first 4 verses of chapter 1.
What the writer is doing (I have
pointed this out many times.)…it’s like he is weaving a rope. That’s the best
analogy I can come up with where he lays one thread and then he lays down a second
thread and a third thread. Then be brings to weave them together. Then he
brings in a third thread and then he works with another set of threads over here
and starts to pull them in. So he is constantly going back and picking up ideas
and doctrines that he has already discussed and then bringing them forward in the
development of his thought. It is very logical and very rationally developed;
but it’s not always as clear in the English as it is in the Greek simply
because the Greek writer, the original writer, is using vocabulary that he has
already introduced.
“Wait a minute. I saw that word back here in chapter 2
and that sort of pulls things together for you.”
So we come to the first verse in verse 1.
NKJ Hebrews 8:1 Now this is the
main point of the things we are saying:
Colon - that is a good way to handle
this. That is how it’s handled in the New King James because it’s not a summary
as much as he is building on what he has said in chapter 7 and now he’s making
an additional point – a point that builds on and borrows from what he has
said in chapter 7; but he is taking it to the next level in the argument.
He says:
We have such a
High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in
the heavens,
Now that first phrase (This is the
main point) is a translation of one Greek word kephalaion which is related to kephale
which is the Greek word for head or sometimes is used to mean authority. You
see it in certain English words - someone who is hydrocephalic – has got
water on the brain. That’s the right term. That comes from the same Greek word. It has the idea of
adding something up or coming to the main point or the head point depending on
how it fits in the context. It’s not coming to a summation here as much as he
is emphasizing “this is the point I want you to understand.” Everything in
chapter 7 has built to this point.
Now he is making the point. That is
that we have such a high priest. The main verb that we find in this verse is we
have such a high priest. That’s our main verb. That tells us that it is what he
is discussing here is the nature of Christ’s high priesthood.
He begins by saying:
We have such a
High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in
the heavens,
This takes us back to verse 26. If
you look at verse 26 of the last chapter, it begins:
NKJ Hebrews 7:26 For such a High Priest was fitting for us,
That word “such” is the same Greek
word that we have in 8:1. He is making a definite connection that we have such
a High Priest.
Verse 26 says:
who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher
than the heavens;
So verse 26 leads up to this idea of
this kind of high priest. The Greek word here is toioutos. It has the sense of this sort, of this kind. It denotes a
certain character or individuality. So we have a High Priest with a certain
character, one who fits a certain template as it were that is necessary to
fulfill the divine plan. Now about the fact that we have such a High Priest, he
makes three statements.
The first statement is that:
who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the
Majesty in the heavens,
That’s all one relative clause.
Now there are a couple of things we
need to observe about this particular verse. First of all, He is seated. It is
an aorist tense verb. It is action that indicates that His work is completed on
the cross so that He is no longer working in terms of accomplishing salvation. It’s
done. It’s over with. He is now seated because His work on the cross is
finished. When He concluded His work on the cross He said, Tetalestai which means it has been completed or it is finished. It
was a perfect tense verb indicating completed action with results that
continue. Because the work on the cross was finished, He could ascend to heaven
and He is now seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the
heavens.
Now all of those elements are
important. He is at the right hand of the throne. We need to pay attention to
this because the concept of throne is very important. We have number of different
thrones in the Bible. A throne relates to a kingdom and it relates to
rulership. Jesus is not saying that He is sitting on a throne, but that He is
at the right hand of the throne. The word throne is used 53 times in the New
Testament. The majority of times it is a reference to the throne of the Father.
But in some key passages it references the throne of David and the future
throne of the Messiah, the greater Son of David, who will rule on His throne in
the Millennial Kingdom. This is the way it is used in Matthew 19:28.
Jesus said to His disciples:
NKJ Matthew 19:28 So Jesus said to them, "Assuredly I say to you,
that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory,
you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve
tribes of Israel.
“In the regeneration” is a technical
term there. It’s not talking about the salvation of an individual. It’s talking
about in the regeneration in the new heavens and new earth in the future
kingdom of Christ. (That’s not the New Heavens and New Earth. I realize that)
It is talking about the whole future. It’s a rather general term for in the
future when the Son of Man is sitting on His glorious throne. The Millennial
Kingdom is the first phrase and then that goes into eternity. The Millennial
Kingdom is phase one of eternity and the Lord Jesus Christ doesn’t stop
reigning at the end of the Millennial Kingdom. So the term regeneration not
only includes the Millennial Kingdom but goes on into eternity. It is then and
only then that He sits on His throne. He is not said to sit on a throne until
He returns at the Second Coming.
This throne in the Millennial
Kingdom is linked to the throne of David in Luke 1:32 where the angel tells
Mary:
NKJ Luke 1:32 "He will be great, and will be called the Son of
the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.
So He is destined as the Son of
David. That term “Son of David” is important in Hebrews because we go back to
His Sonship. He is the Son of God. He is the Son of David. All these terms
related to sonship go back to the first four verses in the first chapter. So
He’s got this future throne and it’s the throne of His father David.
We go back to the first chapter in
Hebrews 1:8. There is a quote from Psalm 45:6-7 that is applied not to the
Father, but to the Son.
Of the Son He says:
NKJ Hebrews 1:8 But to the Son He
says: "Your throne, O God, is forever
and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the
scepter of Your Kingdom.
There the throne is applied to the
kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ when He rules as the Davidic king.
Then when we get to Revelation 3:21,
we have a reference to His throne; but it’s still a future concept. He says:
NKJ Revelation 3:21 "To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with
Me on My throne,
Overcomer believers in the Church
Age don’t sit with Him on His throne until after the Judgment Seat of Christ,
after the Second Coming. That’s when He has a throne.
He says then:
as I also
overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
So currently Jesus is not sitting on
His throne. He is sitting on His Father’s throne. This is important when you
study prophecy and study issues related to eschatology because in
a-millennialism and post-millennialism and this new thing that has been
developed in the last 20 years called progressive dispensationalism (which is
neither progressive nor dispensational but is held by most of the faculty of
Dallas Seminary. Not all, but I’d say at least half.) They argue that Jesus is
sitting on some form of the Davidic throne in heaven right now. This violates your
basic literal hermeneutic. In fact they had to invent a new hermeneutic that
they call complementary hermeneutics. I am not going to get into that but when
you start messing with the text you have to start messing with
hermeneutics.
The point that I want to make here
is simply that the first thing that is said about the Lord and His priesthood
is that He is seated at the right hand of the throne. So He exercises His high
priestly ministry from the right hand of the Father in session. That word
session comes from the Latin sessionum
which means to be seated. So this is what’s happening today. He is seated at
the right hand of the Father.
Now the second thing that is said
about Him is in the first phrase of the second verse.
NKJ Hebrews 8:2 a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true
tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.
Now I am going to come back and look
at the details of this in a minute. Right now I am just summarizing the three
things that are said about Jesus. First of all, as a High Priest He is seated
at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens – not on high. We have
the phrase “on high” in 1:3. We will come back to that in a minute as I show
the connections between these verses in the first chapter. He is at the right
hand of the Majesty in the heavens. He is a minister of the sanctuary and of
the true tabernacle.
The third thing that is said is
about the tabernacle which the Lord erected and not man. It is God who built
this. This is the archetype tabernacle in heaven. As we saw last time the word that is translated tabernacle
is the Greek word skene that has to
do with a dwelling place. So this is the dwelling of God in the third heavens,
the throne of God. There is a holy place there which is indicated by the word
sanctuary from the Greek word hagios.
We will get into that detail in just a minute.
So this is what is said in the first
two verses – three things about His priesthood. He is seated at the right
hand of the throne of Majesty in the heavens. He is a minister. That word
minister has to do with His priestly service. He is a minister of the sanctuary
and of the true tabernacle. This sanctuary and true tabernacle were erected by
God not man so it’s a heavenly tabernacle.
Now before we get much further just
in terms of summary, there are five points stated in these six verses regarding
the superiority of Jesus as the High Priest. That’s the point that we are
leading up to…is this superiority of His priesthood. This discussion about His
high priestly ministry began in chapter 7, but it doesn’t end until we get to
12:2.
NKJ Hebrews 12:2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set
before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the
right hand of the throne of God.
Again it is emphasizing that aspect
of His session. So this whole section that we are in from 7 through the first
couple of verses of 12 deals with the high priestly ministry of Christ and the
value of that for the believer today. As I stated when I began Hebrews, and
don’t forget this, is the purpose is to not get all bogged down in a lot of
intricate and interesting doctrine; but it is to motivate us as believers in
the Church Age in light of what Jesus is doing for you right now at the right
hand of the Father to strengthen each one of us in our spiritual growth in
preparing us for that future responsibility when we reign with Him as kings and
priests. So we are in our training ground. We are in spiritual boot camp right
now in training for that future position, that future role, that future
responsibility. Last time I tried to connect that to all these other things
that are going on in relation to the angelic conflict and in terms of covenants
and how all these covenants fit together.
So the first point that is made is
that Jesus is a better priest than Aaron based on the use of toioutos “such a one” in 8:1 which is
laid out from 4:16 down to 7:28.
So He is a better priest than Aaron because He fits a better priestly
prototype which is the Melchizedekean priesthood.
Now as we look at these verses, we
look at 8:1. We think back in terms of what we have studied. There are some
things that we ought to point out. You can hold your place here so you can mark
some things in the text, but I am going to put these two verses up here on the
screen for you. Sometimes I wonder if I put too many verses up here and you don’t
use your Bible enough. But you need to be using your Bibles. I use the screen
to make points in a visual way to make it a little easier for you. If you look
at 8:1, I am just going to read it to you.
NKJ Hebrews 8:1 Now this is the main point of
the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the
right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,
Now here we are talking about one
who is seated at the right hand of God. But the focus is on Him being High
Priest. As a High Priest, He is seated at the right hand of the throne of the
Majesty in heavens.
Now look at Hebrews 1:3. Hebrews 1:3
says:
NKJ Hebrews 1:3 who
That is the Son because that’s who
he talks about in Hebrews 1:2, the Son.
being the
brightness of His glory and the
express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power,
when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the
Majesty on high,
Seated at the right hand of God…as a
High Priest throne of the in the heavens.
So we are not talking Him as the
High Priest but as the Son.
You see the similarity in
terminology. It said the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens. Verse 3 says
at the right hand of the Majesty on high. The Greek word hupsolos and in 8:1 we have ouranos
which is heavens.
Now what is interesting is as you
look at this is that the subject in 1:1-4 is on Jesus as Son, but when you come
to the end of chapter 7 the focus is on Jesus as the High Priest.
Hebrew 7:27-8 connect up with 8:1 and
give us an interesting read. For example in v. 27:
NKJ Hebrews 7:27 who does not need daily, as those high priests, to
offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people's, for this
He did once for all when He offered up Himself.
So that ties that word offering to
what happened on the cross. See when we get to verse 3 it’s going to talk about
every high priest appointed to offer. So verse 27 nails the offering of that
which occurs on the cross.
NKJ Hebrews 7:28 For the law appoints as high priests men who have
weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected
forever.
See you didn’t you expect Son in the
context of chapter 7. You expected to read “appoint a High Priest.” What the writer
of Hebrews is doing is he is interweaving this idea of His sonship and His high
priestly ministry. In one passage he uses the same terminology, but he talks
about Him as a Son (in Hebrews 1:1-4). Then in Hebrews 7 he is talking about
Him as a High Priest. When you come down through verse 28 when we expect it to
say that the Law points men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the
oath which came after the Law appoints a High Priest – no, it appoints a
Son.
Then in verse 1 (now this is the main
point of things), we have such a high priest. What I want you to see is how the
writer interconnects, weaves these ideas together so that the concept of His
sonship (the fulfillment of His sonship) and His high priestly ministry are
inseparable. This has been the focus since chapter 4 – of the nature of
who is developing the fact that the one who is the Son is our High Priest. We
can’t distinguish the two that God became a man so that He could serve as our
High Priest. A high priest has to partake of both the character and the nature
of those who he is representing. A high priest partakes of the nature of whom
he is representing, but a mediator partakes of both. We have the idea of
mediator comes up in 8:6 that He is also mediator of a better covenant. So the
idea of priesthood, mediator and sonship are all woven together in these verses
to demonstrate the superiority of Christ’s priesthood because He is a priest as
a Son and as a mediator.
The second thing that is brought out
in these verses is that He works in a better or superior sanctuary or holy
place. Literally, it’s holy place. It could be sanctuary, but holy place. He
works in a superior holy place in 8:2 and 8:5. Moses and the Levitical
priesthood served in a copy or a shadow of that sanctuary, but Christ is in the
archetypical holy place.
He offers a better sacrifice. It is
a once, for all sacrifice when He offered up Himself according to verse
27.
Fourth, He is the mediator of a
better covenant. Now this is something that hit me. I have written a number of
papers years ago when I was in a doctoral program at Dallas Seminary when I
used to write a newsletter - Tommy and I used to publish a newsletter on
dispensational issues about 20 years ago. We wrote a number of articles on the
New Covenant. I don’t know. It has been awhile since I have been into this
doctrine so maybe I saw it 20 years ago or not, but the whole point of verses 1
through 5 is that Christ in His high priestly ministry right now is functioning
as a mediator of the New Covenant. The New Covenant is defined in context as
the covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah in verse 8. Now
that probably went passed you.
Let me set it up again because we
will spend some time on this next time we have our next lesson. In the history
of dispensationalism there was a period of time in the early twentieth century,
early half of the twentieth century, when it was typical of people such as
Scofield (I believe), Chafer (for sure), Walvoord (in his early years), Ryrie
(in his early years) and others taught what was called a new two covenant view
that there was a next covenant with the church and a New Covenant with Israel. But
when you get into the New Testament there is no passage that ever talks about a
new covenant with the Church. But when you have Jesus talking to His disciples
at the Last Supper saying, “This is the new covenant of my blood which is given
for you” and then Paul talks about the fact that he is the minister of the New
Covenant. The deduction was that it must means that there is a New Covenant for
the church.
But in neither of those two passages
is it stated that the new covenant is with the church. Now if the present
priestly ministry of Christ (His high priestly ministry) in session is a
function of His being a mediator of the New Covenant, you would think logically
if there were two new covenants that would be the New Covenant of the church,
not a new covenant with Israel because He is functioning as our High Priest. But
see that’s not what we have here. He is talking about the fact that He is the
minister, the mediator of a better covenant in verse 6 and that better covenant
is the covenant in verse 8 with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. There
is not a new covenant with the Church. That is what I am saying. You were
probably taught that at some point. But, there is only one new covenant. It’s
with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
The church participates as a
beneficiary of that covenant. The pattern that I use (the model I use) is the
same thing you have in the Old Testament. God makes a contract with Abraham. He
has His covenant with Abraham.
He says, “On the basis of my
contract with you, I am going to bless the Gentiles.”
The New Covenant is a contract
between God and Israel. It supplants the old covenant of the Mosaic Law. On the
basis of this New Covenant He’s going to bless all people. It’s a development
of the third paragraph of the Abrahamic Covenant. So it fits perfectly with the
whole stream of revelation that the New Covenant with the house of Israel and
the house of Judah is that covenant which was established on the cross but
doesn’t go into affect until Second Coming. But we participate in blessing from that contract in the
Church Age because it’s related to our future rule and reign with Christ as the
High Priest and we are priests. It relates to our position in Christ as the
party of the first part of the covenant as opposed to being related to Judah
and Israel the party of the second part of the covenant. Does that make sense?
So, we receive the blessing on the basis of this legal foundation that God
establishes.
So Christ is superior as a High
Priest because He is a better priest than Aaron. He works in a superior holy
place. He offers a better sacrifice. He is the mediator of a better covenant. His
work rests on better promises. He is a mediator of a better covenant which was
established on better promises. His work rests on better promises. At the end
of verse 6 He is a mediator of a better covenant which was established on
better promises. We will get into that in the next lesson.
Once he establishes this, then he
will go on to four remaining points in the next three chapters. He will discuss
the better covenant in 8:7-13. He will go into a detailed explanation and
analysis of the better sanctuary in 9:1-12. He will explain the better
sacrifice in 9:13-10:18 and the better promises in 10:19 all the way through to
12:3. So that gives you a kind of overview of what’s coming up. So the point of
chapter 8:1-6 is to build this transition reaching all the way back to 1:1-4
connecting His sonship, connecting His high priestly ministry, connecting the
whole superiority of His ministry that’s been under discussion the last couple
of chapters, even going back to such verses as Hebrews 4:14.
NKJ Hebrews 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has
passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
NKJ Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot
sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet
without sin.
So, all these things are pulled
together. These threads are pulled together into this developing doctrine of
the high priestly ministry of Christ.
Now let’s go back to look at verse
2.
NKJ Hebrews 8:2 a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord
erected, and not man.
This is the prototype dwelling place
in heaven. As I said earlier, this is the Greek word skene meaning habitation, dwelling place. It is the same word in
the Hebrew where we get the word Shekinah which means dwelling place. Shekinah
is not used anywhere in the Hebrew Old Testament. It was a rabbinical word
coined to explain the dwelling of God in the tabernacle in the Old Testament. The
dwelling place, the tabernacle another word for tabernacle is the Hebrew word mishkan, same root. shkn is a root word. It goes over into Greek as skene. I was surprised. A couple of
years ago I was teaching this – something related to this – when I
was over in Ukraine. I kept hearing – every time I would say the word skene talking about dwelling I would
hear the Russian translator using the word skene.
So there is a Russian word skene. All
of it goes back to the Hebrew root.
This heavenly dwelling place is
emphasized a number of places.
NKJ Hebrews 9:11 But Christ came as
High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect
tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.
Going back to Exodus 25:9 where God
told Moses:
NKJ Exodus 25:9 "According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle
and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.
The earthly tabernacle is modeled or
patterned after a heavenly archetype.
Back to 8:2.
NKJ Hebrews 8:2 a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle
which the Lord erected, and not man.
There are two key words here. Minister
is a word that sort of loses a little bit of its significance in our current
culture. It’s the Greek word leitourgos.
It’s a noun meaning a servant. But in the context of the Scripture it always
relates to service in the tabernacle, in the temple, service related to serving
God. So it is a priestly servant. This is a word commonly used in the Old
Testament Septuagint in relationship to the function of the priests in the
tabernacle.
The word sanctuary is a translation
of the Greek word hagios which means
a holy place, technically a place that is set apart for the dwelling of God
because it’s related to skene in contrast.
So Christ becomes a minister. He functions as a priestly servant in the Holy of
Holies. That word hagios hagion (Holy
of Holies) is used when we get into chapter 9. This inner sanctum, the dwelling
place of God which is the true tabernacle, which is the true dwelling place of
God which God erected and not man.
It ultimately will end when we get
into the New Heavens and New Earth.
So then we get into the third verse
which begins with the phrase “for”. It introduces an explanation.
Actually it begins to develop
something and lays a groundwork for what comes. The “for” here doesn’t explain
what happens before but is building a case.
We read:
NKJ Hebrews 8:3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts
and sacrifices.
The reason I sat that apart in the
verse is because that’s a generic statement. It is a general principle. It is a
gnomic use of the present tense of the verb
kathistemi. It’s a generally true statement. A priest is appointed to offer
gifts and sacrifices. That’s the principle – universal principle.
Then we have the second part of the
verse that applies this to Christ.
Therefore it is necessary that this One also have
something to offer.
Now when you read that word “it is
necessary” this is a Greek word anagkaios
which goes back to 7:27 where we read in the English:
NKJ Hebrews 7:27 who does not need daily, as those high priests, to
offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people's, for this
He did once for all when He offered up Himself.
That’s the word. There is a
necessity there.
So there is a connection. That word
is used in verse 27. The writer again is being very artful in the way he uses
his vocabulary to tie his sections together.
What he is saying here is it’s
necessary that this (That is this High Priest.) one also have something to
offer. The something that He has to offer is His once, for all sacrifice on the
cross. It’s not an ongoing sacrifice. It’s not the idea of the Roman Catholic
mass that every time you have a mass there is a re-crucifixion of Christ. It
doesn’t have to go on repeatedly. It was a once for all sufficient sacrifice
for sin, not an ongoing action.
Then we come to verse 4 where he
sets up an unreal condition. This is a second class condition, if and it’s not.
If He were on earth, but He’s not.
NKJ Hebrews 8:4 For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest,
since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law;
If He were on earth, but He’s not is
an argument from supposition but it’s not true. Jesus couldn’t fit the pattern
of priests. He keeps going back very simply to what he has stated earlier that
to function on the earth. He would have to function according to the standards
of the Levitical priesthood and the Mosaic Law. Since He wasn’t of the tribe of Levi, since He didn’t fit
those qualifications, He couldn’t serve as a priest.
So if He were on the earth but He’s
not, He would not be a priest since there are priest who offer the gifts
according to the law. These priests served the copy and the shadow of the
heavenly things.
NKJ Hebrews 8:5 who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was
divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle.
He is restating it over again. He
wants to make sure that we don’t miss the point. The earthly priests served an
earthly copy, but Jesus is a heavenly high priest on a superior priesthood
serving in the better or superior sanctuary in heaven.
For He said,
That is God.
"See that you make all things according to
the pattern shown you on the mountain."
Now there are a couple of
interesting words here. They are synonymous. The word for copy is the Greek
word hupodeigma. Shadow is the word skia and these are virtually synonymous.
What it is saying is that the tabernacle on earth is a shadow image, a shadow
copy, of an ultimate reality that is in heaven.
Another key word that is used here
is the word down in the last line, pattern. That’s the Greek word tupos where we get our word type. A type
is a pattern. It is like a stamp
of a dye. It sets the boundaries or the limits of something. So what we have
here is that there is a heavenly type, a heavenly pattern that is simply
reflected in a shadow on the earthly tabernacle.
Then we come to verse 6.
NKJ Hebrews 8:6 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry,
This is the Lord Jesus Christ and He
has obtained this more excellent ministry. Why? Because of what He did on the
cross. God’s plan was that the Lord Jesus Christ instead of God requiring man
to be righteousness and to produce righteousness, God sent His Son who would go
to the cross and He would bear our sins in His body and then His righteousness
would be given to us, knowing that we could never satisfy the demands of the
Law in and of ourselves. The Law required a man to be something he could not
be, so Jesus Christ fulfilled that on His own. So because He has done that,
because He completed the offering He has now obtained a more excellent
ministry
inasmuch as He
is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better
promises.
So we have three things that are
superior here – a more excellent ministry, a better covenant and a better
promise. Now I want you to note the similarly between verse 6 and verse 4.
In Hebrews 1:4 we read:
NKJ Hebrews 1:4 having become so much better than the angels, as He
has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
So see he is using the similar type
of superlative language to emphasize His superior position as our High Priest. This
is based on two things, the better covenant and the promises of the covenant
that He is a mediator of this better covenant.
We are probably going to wrap up a
little early tonight because I don’t want to get too far into the New Covenant,
but I want to at least introduce it with a diagram that I think helps to
explain it a little bit.
We are going to look at the fact
that in the Old Testament you have promises that are made to Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob, promises that are made to Moses, and these promises are eventually
fulfilled in the future – not yet.
Down here we insert the
dispensational chart of the ages starting with the formation of Israel back
with Abraham and then Moses. I don’t have all the dispensations in here. We
just have the Old Testament layout and then we get into the Church Age and then
the Millennial Kingdom.
With the formation of Israel, this
is based on the Abrahamic Covenant which promised three things - land, seed and
blessing. The land part is developed in the real estate covenant. The seed is
developed in the Davidic Covenant which is fulfilled when Jesus returns and the
New Covenant is developed in Jeremiah 31. It’s fulfilled. Notice the solid line,
it means that it’s not fulfilled until the same point as the Davidic Covenant
and the land covenant when Jesus returns at the Second Coming. The dashed line
indicates that it has application to the church today. It’s not a solid line
because the New Covenant is not being fulfilled today. It is merely being
applied to the church. So that’s a diagram that will become fairly familiar to
you over the next couple of lessons as we go through the rest of chapter
8.
I am going to stop there because we
are coming up. We have laid the foundation for verse 7.
NKJ Hebrews 8:7 For if that first covenant had
been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.
There was an inherent aspect about
that first covenant, that old covenant that is temporary. It was never intended
to be permanent. It seems like I get into this discussion at least two or three
times a year with some new pastor trying to work his way through things. We
have almost put ourselves in a verbal trap by calling these covenants
conditional and unconditional because there are conditions even in the
Abrahamic Covenant. The covenant is permanent, but it has conditions. The Jews
could not enjoy the full scope of the land unless they were obedient and
rightly related to God. That’s a condition. But, if they don’t fulfill the
condition, the covenant’s not removed. It’s just that the generation isn’t
going to experience it. So we get into a little trap here with our terminology.
So I have tried for the last several years to condition (no pun intended)
myself to use the phrase “permanent” versus “temporary”. The Abrahamic Covenant,
land covenant, the Davidic Covenant and the New Covenant are permanent
covenants. The old covenant was a temporary covenant. That’s what the writer of
Hebrews is saying. There was something inherent about it that was temporary. That’s
why you have a new covenant called the New Covenant because it is replacing the
old covenant. The old covenant was never intended to last forever. But, the New
Covenant is. So by its very nature the Mosaic Law was not intended to be
permanent, but temporary and isn’t fully instigated until Jesus Christ returns
at the Second Coming. We will get into that next time. We will go back into
Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel and some of the other Old Testament passages related to
the New Covenant and then connect it all up with Hebrews 8.
Let’s bow our heads in closing
prayer.